Welcome to the first edition of our new series, Installer

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Content source

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/13/23828624/installer-newsletter-callsheet-nerf-lego-arc

By David Pierce, editor-at-large, The Verge

Hi friends! My hope here every week is to be your guide to all the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. My original pitch for this was just “what if we just found all the cool apps/videos/creators/whatevers every week and put it all in one place,” and that’s what Installer is here to be. Normally, these won’t start with a long preamble about How It All Works, but seeing as we’ve never done this before, I’ll try and explain things as we go.

First and most important: Installer absolutely positively does not work without you. I’m going to do my best to find great new stuff every week, but I’m also hoping you’ll tag me in funny posts, DM me hilarious memes, and email me (installer@theverge.com) links to all the best stuff you encounter all over the web. We’re going to make this thing great together every single week.

There are two ways to get Installer: on theverge.com every Sunday morning or in newsletter form every Saturday. Subscribers get a full day’s head start. But David, you’re saying, I hate email. Who needs more email? I’m with you — I don’t like reading newsletters in my inbox either. But I have solutions!

 

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This week, I’ve been reading about the remarkable pettiness of Disney CEOs and the crypto world’s most obvious scams, watching a whole lot of US Open tennis and this wild home-renovation show that’s all about VR, drafting fantasy football teams, nodding vigorously at this story about the scourge that is Rotten Tomatoes, trying to figure out how to keep my car off the internet after reading this new Mozilla study, shouting from the rooftops that everyone needs to stop using LastPass and change all their passwords, and throwing my life away for a few more minutes to play Ridiculous Fishing EX. This week, I also have a new camera, some new speakers, the smart home controller all others should copy, the next big AI music track, some thoroughly modern football-watching tips, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy’s homescreen. Let’s go.

A new-old camera, Clubhouse pivots, and smart home apps galore

Plus, in this week’s Installer: Wireless speakers, video game deals, and movie disasters.

www.theverge.com

 

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This week, I’ve been reading about the AI writing lives of real writers, rewatching the John Wick movies to prepare for The Continental, shopping for StandBy-capable iPhone docks, getting back into VR exercise with Supernatural boxing, and really, really, really hoping Microsoft’s controller-first vision for the future of gaming comes true soon. I also have for you a new super-slick Windows laptop, two crypto-related podcasts you should hear, a reason to try Bard again, OpenAI’s new image-making tool, a smart home platform to try, and the Tesla of baby monitors.

Oh, and fair warning: this week’s pretty Apple-heavy. But it’s New Apple Software Upgrade Week, so there’s just a lot to go through. We’ll do the same for Android 14 in a couple of weeks, too, I suspect, so send me all your favorite Android stuff! And Meta Connect is next week, so maybe we’ll get weird with some VR stuff, too. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Apple’s new software is widgets all the way down

Also in Installer this week: Microsoft’s best new laptop, Amazon’s new smart home hub, and much more.

www.theverge.com